Building collapse in Thane kills 22; more than 64 injured

Thane: At least 22 people were killed and over 64 injured when a seven-storied under-construction building collapsed in Thane on Thursday, Disaster Management Control Cell of the Thane Municipal Corporation said. The building collapsed at around 6:30 PM following which fire tenders and medical teams were rushed to the spot. There are conflicting versions of the toll coming in, as several people are still trapped. [caption id=“attachment_687126” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Screen grab/ ibnlive[/caption] Civic officials said the building in Shil Dhaigar locality was unauthorised. They claimed that it was built on forest land and was occupied at least up to the fourth floor. At the time of incident, there were around 35 families in the building, they said. Rescue and relief operations continued till late in the night as victims were feared buried under the debris. More than a dozen fire tenders along with over 24 ambulances were stationed at the site of the accident. The operations were carried out under the supervision of Civic Commissioner R A Rajeev and District Collector P Velarasu. Additional Collector Ashok Shingare took charge of the district disaster control room and made arrangements for the civil defence and other rescue teams. The injured were admitted to various hospitals including Thane Civil, CSM Civic hospital at Kalwa, Kalsekar hospital in Kalwa, while those in critical condition were shifted to Sion and JJ Hospital. With inputs from PTI